Number9Dream, by David Mitchell

I wish I could understand, more clearly, the writings of David Mitchell.  His novels span geography and time and explore deep rooted themes of friendship, loyalty, and family.  He does not pull any punches and he is not afraid of letting the characters have their way.  I've seen it written by writers on story telling that no character should be bigger than the story and I think that is true to Mitchell but he allows his characters to push the extreme limits of the stories he writes.  His novels are sprawling post modern commentaries on everything.  I am three novels deep into his repertoire.  The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet, Cloud Atlas, and most recently Number9Dream.

Number9Dream, a Booker Prize Finalist, is set, for the most part, in Tokyo.  A young boy, left by his mother with his twin sister, with relatives in a rural village, Yakushima, grows up feeling an orphan.  Eiji Miyake and his sister Anju grow up, until Anju's untimely death, relying on one another for support, comfort, friendship, and family.  Raised by relatives but never really belonging to a family.  Abandoned by their mother, shunned by a father they had never met, their lives were wrapped in superstition and they were left to order the world as they saw fit based on their observations and experiences.

The novel opens in Tokyo with Eiji, close to his 20th birthday, staking out the only connection he has to the father he's never met, a lawyer in a law firm based in the Panopticon building.  I don't know if it is a real place or not, Mitchell paints such a vivid image of Tokyo and captures the dream like qualities a city has on rural kids (I should know!).  Immediately the story enters Eiji's fantastic imagination of daydreams as he infiltrates the law firm that connects him to his father. From there Mitchell takes readers on an amazing journey with Eiji Miyake as he finds his father, connects with is mother, and allows the memory of his twin sister to be laid finally be laid to rest.

Number9Dream is a powerfully written novel that is in equal parts thrilling, frightening, and tender.  A post modern coming of age story told through dreams and imagination and pushed forward with Mitchell's direct and powerful prose.  Perhaps not the best novel ever written but a damn fine one to add to your reading list.